{"id":164453,"date":"2017-05-22T13:00:12","date_gmt":"2017-05-22T13:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/premium.wpmudev.org\/blog\/?p=164453"},"modified":"2017-05-19T07:26:58","modified_gmt":"2017-05-19T07:26:58","slug":"google-my-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/google-my-business\/","title":{"rendered":"Google My Business: A Walkthrough of Google\u2019s Tool for Businesses (and Plugins for WordPress)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you remember a tool that Google had a few years back called Google Places? How about Google+ Local? Both of these free business tools aimed at accomplishing a similar goal: empowering business owners and marketers to control their business\u2019s identity online.<\/p>\n

Google Places provided businesses with a hub through which you could update your business listing, keeping search results up-to-date with the correct contact and business operational information. Google+ Local, on the other hand, was connected to a business\u2019s Google+ page. This was Google\u2019s way of encouraging businesses to not only keep their search presence active, but also to get them on to the Google+ social media platform (which Google shut down in 2019).<\/p>\n

However, in the case where someone updated one of those platforms with new information but forgot to do so on the other (since you\u2019d assume that all Google tools are connected), users started to run into outdated information in search. As you can imagine, this was problematic not only for businesses who lost customers due to incorrect search information but for Google whose multiple platforms were telling contradicting stories.<\/p>\n

Well, a couple of years ago, Google fixed the problem. It merged the two tools together, rebranded, and relaunched as Google My Business<\/a>. It basically did the same thing as before but kept the management of one\u2019s business profile all in one place.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re curious to learn more about Google My Business, want tips on setting it up as well as how to make the most of it in WordPress, read on!<\/p>\n

An Introduction to Google My Business<\/h2>\n

You know how sometimes you\u2019ll do a Google Search for a new restaurant you\u2019ve been dying to try and the results page will show a sidebar callout with a whole lot of information about the business? Well, that\u2019s what Google My Business does when businesses set up and manage their profiles through the tool.<\/p>\n

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Update your details so users can see your business’s information displayed in Google search.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In sum, Google My Business<\/a> is like any other tool from Google. It\u2019s free, intuitive, and enables developers, business owners, and marketers to stay on top of their online presence.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to clarify that the reason why I don\u2019t say My Business helps users stay on top of their Google search results<\/em> is that it does much more than that. Be it Google Search or Google Maps, My Business is the one tool you can use to keep them all updated and presenting consistent information to your audience, regardless of where they run into your business. Pretty cool, right?<\/p>\n

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Keep your\u00a0Google My Business details up-to-date to help users easily find you.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Now, some of you may be wondering if it\u2019s even worth it to use My Business if you don\u2019t have a physical storefront. The answer to that is \u201cyes\u201d.<\/p>\n

This is a tool that helps you control your business\u2019s identity on Google\u2019s properties and ensures that the information displayed to users is current. Of course, if your business does have a local storefront, you should do everything you can optimize your site for local search<\/a> anyway, but getting on Google My Business should be part of that plan, too. However, there is no reason why digital businesses can\u2019t benefit from having a Google My Business account.<\/p>\n

Here are some of the details you have the option of providing in your business profile:<\/p>\n